The Great Skell Robbery
by NullNoMore
Summary: Case the Head Case decides to steal an enemy skell. Bad idea? Ya think! It takes 8 other BLADES, a good chunk of NLA, and the oldest Wrothian in the galaxy to sort it out. Post game but not too spoilery. M for hard swears, mild adult innuendo, and OC creeps. Also, poor battle writing skills. All the good things belong to the geniuses of Monolith Soft (droolXC2/2017drool).
1. Bad Idea

**The Great Skell Robbery/1/** **Bad Idea**

 **a/n: It starts crude, and doesn't get much better, because Case the Head Case has decided that she's going to hotwire an enemy skell. Bad idea? Ya think?!**

 **Hard swears, adult innuendo. Set post game, no sure about spoiler levels. Case is my baby Cross that lives in my head and fills in when my real Cross is busy.**

 **All the good real stuff belongs to Monolith Soft, with love for the localizer 8-4. I'm so sorry to put Gwin through this, somebody send him a coupon for breakfast at Rosemoss. We've got a good 8 chapters to go, and he's going to get a bit scuffed.**

* * *

They peered over the jagged pile of black rocks and gazed at the group of five Milsaadi, plus a few Marnuck. Case's eyes were shining with excitement.

"Fuck me," she breathed softly.

"Here? Now?"

"Honestly, Evans." She looked over her shoulder at him and rolled her eyes.

"Well, you said it."

His cheeky grin evaporated at her response. "No. But back in New LA, I'm expecting three days of you, between my legs, naked and panting. Happy now?"

"Erk!"

She shook her head and looked back across the small strait of lava. "I don't even know why you bother to try and out-crude someone like me…"

"Lesson learned, that's for sure. You're not called the Dog Squad for nothing."

"Just for that, invitation revoked."

"No, sorry, you're not like them. Really." He took one last look at the scene. "Let's get back and tell the others."

"No. I want that and I'm gonna get it."

He scanned the area, all the tech and enemies and materials, not sure what she meant. "What?"

"That skell. I'm gonna steal it."

It took all his training to keep his voice at a whisper. "Are you crazy?"

"Duh. See ya, back in New LA." She shifted towards the edge of the protective rock, staring hard ahead.

"Wait!"

"What?"

"You're really going to do this?"

"Yup."

He grabbed her arm. "Wait."

"Let go. I'm warning you…"

He sighed. No way but forward. "You need backup. What do you want?"

She looked at him for a second, a strange expression on her face. Then she returned her gaze to the enemy group in front. "That one silver skell, five Milsaadi, and all the other regular skells over at that far end. Why? Prototype, you think?"

"Maybe."

"That's why I want it. I've never seen any scrap like that, and I want somebody to look at this one, today."

"Even if I draw some of them off, one of them is going to stay by it."

"Two of them, maybe three. Hell, they might not even shift." She shrugged.

"If we both go straight in, there is no way we can do it."

"So you draw away what you can, and I'll go for the skell."

"No. Better idea." Gwin thought rapidly. "I rig an explosion, something, over to the side, by the other skells, then we go in from different directions."

"You think you can do that?"

"I have super sneaky ninja skills."

"No, you don't."

"We could get backup."

"They won't be here long enough. We need to do this now."

He wasn't sure if that was true, but he could feel himself sliding into Case's now-or-never universe. "Two minutes. Wait for me, across the pool and by the rocks. You'll need that to repair your thermal damage anyway. Then, whatever happens, you can go for it."

"I will."

* * *

 **A/N: Happy 2017. Someday, I will play another 300 hours as Case, until then, she gets fanfiction.**

 **Next up: Introducing the Dog Squad. Or, why Case is a head case. (The Dog Squad is so hideous, they practically are a walking trigger warning, ugh.)**


	2. Dog Squad

**Dog Squad**

 **a/n: Just how did Case get her name? And the Dog Squad, who are they? And what does Irina think of all of them? (Short version: rotten luck, goons, and not much.)**

 **Swears, creeptastic goons, innuendo ugly.**

 **All the good real stuff belongs to Monolith Soft, with love for the localizer 8-4. Sorry to say, but thuggish Dog Squad is mine, ew, also Case, my baby imaginary Cross, if you cringe at this combination, be prepared to skim.**

* * *

Case was so tired of her squad. So very tired of them. Over the months, she'd been bounced back and forth from division to division, nothing ever fitting. With a head that was empty of memory, and suspiciously empty of thought, there wasn't any connection to keep her in one place. In her own way, she'd made herself useful as a temp. She'd had the good squads and the bad ones. This was the worst.

Worse even than worst, because she'd been with them before, long ago, at the very start. Fresh, almost wobbly, from the Mimeosome Repair Center, she'd been sent on an easy mission with them. She'd been so new, she hadn't realized what they were or what had happened, but she had kept track ever since, and she'd never seen anything else as bad. Quite a measure, considering how much bad Mira could pack into a few square meters. This was the crew that had baptized her, hung her name on her, and she'd really hoped never to have to work with them again. But since her job was to fill any hole in any squad, she knew that she'd be stuck with them again, someday. No one else would stay with them, given the chance.

The Dog Squad had been riding her from the moment they'd started the mission, before they'd left the gates of NLA. Mostly, it was over the squad only comm links. No way to turn it off. If you did, you missed commands and requests, risked getting ambushed, risked getting dead. At midnight, not 24 hours in, during her double watch ("You don't mind, Head Case?"), she took a pair of pliers to her visor and made her own mute button. She patched her regular comm device into the headset, set it only to receive comments from the other two squads, and had it turn all communications from her own squad into garbled static. She'd know if they were yelling in agony or whispering in fear, but mostly it would be so much garbage. She guessed she'd figure out the rest.

It made the mission almost bearable, so long as they were up and about. It was a poorly thought out mission, no glossing over that point, three uneven squads facing the dangers of Cauldros. At the core was a group of chattering technicians in overloaded scientific skells, no weapons and no fighting skills. They should have targets painted on them, honestly. Instead of relegating them to safe places, like lower Noctilum, somebody had decided to let them wander into Cauldros. There were reasons, admittedly. Their subject of study was Milsaadi, and the Land of Lava was certainly the best place for an assassin-watching trip. But they were too loud, too obvious, to actually get close enough to watch without also drawing conflict. Which left everyone else in the unhappy position of having to defend the darlings as well as fight any Ganglion forces. It was taking two extra squads, because, as said before, these technicians couldn't defend themselves against anything less benign than a ham sandwich. She wasn't sure the Orphe team member could manage even that, if the sandwich happened to be grilled on rye. That was the key, though. The technician team was all xeno, a wild assortment. There was even a Wrothian, who you'd think could fight, except she was the oldest living member of that group, grizzled and easily tired. The BLADEs had to keep them safe, at all costs, as proof of the human-xeno alignment, and in hopes of getting any information about the increasingly violent and effective activity of the Milsaadi.

Case thought the mission was crazy, and for that very reason, she was almost at peace with it. Didn't hurt that she liked the other escort squad. Pure Interceptor, and she'd had the good luck to work with some of them. Nothing to be proud of, merely resource gathering, months before, not sure why the Interceptors had been roped into that, but it had ended with pancakes and berry syrup and her finally feeling halfway full one night. The second in command, Gwin, could eat almost as much as she could, impressive. The leader, Lt. Akulov, was as mean as they came, and had just a hint of scary that made Case feel relaxed. If something bad happened, it would be the kind of bad that Case understood. She didn't know the other two, Rosalee and Neesae, but they were quiet, focused, and generally pissed off. A good bunch. Case liked them.

But when the Dog Squad settled in for the night, she couldn't turn off her ears. Dammit, they were robots and no one had thought of that? She'd take pliers to her head, if she thought she could manage it. Instead, she spent a lot of time counting breaths and trying to turn sound into static on her own. She was pretty good at ignoring remarks, but somehow she couldn't screen out the poetry. Stupid poetry, just ugly stuff, broken haiku and dirty limericks. Didn't know that "Case" and "on my face" could rhyme, still wished she'd never learned that. There was more where that came from. So she drifted about, never stopping, which worked okay except they'd also shoved, pushed and grabbed, and she couldn't always walk away. When she had to, she sat and took it and reminded herself, repeatedly, that every passing minute was one that didn't have to be spent ever again. Meanwhile, she worked out in her head what she'd say to Eleonora when she got back, about never being teamed with this bunch again, and wondered if she could come up with something that didn't include the words "shoot" and "in the head" and "so help me, God".

Xcxcxcxcswitchxcxcxc

Dog Squad is right, thought Irina. They were a disgrace to BLADE. She'd seen enough losers to feel fairly confident in her judgement. These belonged squarely in the lower reaches of hell.

She loathed how they were drag on the mission, dangerously inept and distracted. She loathed how they polluted the air with needless comments, all of them crass. She loathed their looks towards her and the other members of her team, as if sizing up if any of them could become targets. She almost wished they'd try something, but to her surprise even they weren't quite that stupid. And they kept away from the xenos, probably because the Wrothian leader had announced early on, for no particular reason, that she had eaten Prone and Marnuck, but never human, at least not yet. Which left them with one target, a replacement baby of a BLADE named Case. Reliably called Head Case. She shook her own head in disgust.

To be honest, Irina Akulov was furious at the way Case kept taking it quietly. This girl was an embarrassment almost as much as the refuse that made up the rest of that squad. That pale blank face, those flat wide eyes, green like beach glass, her fluff of reddish hair, Irina knew that Case was trying to be unimportant enough for the bullies to leave her alone. A strategy that had never worked, not that Irina knew of. She vaguely remembered working with her before, a quiet kid, pretty strong and willing to work hard, but nothing special. Was it just this squad that turned her into a pathetic weakling?

She finally pulled her to the side after the third day. "Listen, Case, you need to stand up to them. One good punch would be all it takes. Even if it didn't, there are people here, women, who'd back you up."

"I can't." Case shrugged helplessly.

Irina could barely keep herself from growling in disgust. "You may be willing to take that kind of abuse, but you're part of a larger team. You need to teach these pigs a lesson. For everyone else. Do you think we enjoy listening to their filth?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't. I kill indigen when I have to, and Ganglion when I get the chance, but not humans. Once I start, when will I know to stop? I can't risk it, ya know?" Case's baby doll face twisted in worry.

Irina almost choked. "Jesus, Case, I wasn't talking about killing them."

"I was. Sorry."

Irina stepped away from the quiet BLADE, who seemed to shrink back into anonymity. The words seemed impossible. "That is twisted territory. I don't like it."

"Why do you think I have to be so careful? But thanks for the observation. Glad to know it's not just me they irritate."

For the rest of the mission, Irina watched the Dog Squad tormenting poor little Case. Occasionally, when those empty green eyes flashed strangely, Irina remembered their conversation with disquiet, and found herself praying for safety.

* * *

 **A/n: I repeat, Dog Squad gets theirs, in Noctilum Picnic/1 and (uncredited) Rosalee/3, and definitively in a story that will get posted 2 arcs from now, featuring the phrase "curb stomped".**

 **Irina's voice is a sheer pleasure to write. What this says about me, I do not like to think.**

 **Next up: Very (!) short bit featuring lava, a formidable Wrothian, and a shout out to something completely unrelated to XCX. Happy 2017!**


	3. Shovel Knight

**Shovel Knight**

 **A/n: The mission runs into trouble amidst the lava. Lucky they're all skelled up, right?**

 **Swears, badly written fight scene.**

 **All the good stuff belongs to Monolith Soft, but Case, Ga Talea, and the Dog Squad (ugh) are mine.**

* * *

As long as they were working, Case was managing okay. Unfortunately, about two weeks into the mission, nearing the end, one of the xenos was injured. It wasn't just any of them; it was the leader, the Wrothian Ga Talea. It would be polite to say the party had been ambushed, but the truth was that one of the Ma-non skells had stepped on a Marnuck patrol. Directly stepped on it, launching one enemy fighter into the air like a football. Worse, it was a larger than normal patrol; they'd probably been in the middle of a shift change (funny to think of Marnuck having shifts, but it made sense). Worse still, it had been the task of the Dog Squad to protect this section, the Interceptors having been sent to investigate some skell debris on the other side of the ridge.

Case wasn't a big fan of skell fights. To her, they felt like slow and indirect encounters rather than true engagements that demonstrated any skill. Her ride was proof of this lack of interest, still an original model baby skell. She'd just never mustered the energy to care (heresy! but true). Instead, she had tuned her ground armor to perfection for the mission before leaving NLA. Thermal resist, of course, and a fair chunk of physical resist too, because the terrain was deadly in more than one way. She was glad to plug away at the enemy, one after another after another. She'd let her teammates handle anything larger or more mechanical. Weren't Harriers supposed to be the skell fanboys? Anything bigger than a Marnuck, they could deal with that. She managed to make a safe path for the two frailest xenos, allowing them to reach their own small tandem research skell. Ga Talea was already ensconced in her vehicle, giving encouraging and clipped commands to her own team to hurry and make a retreat.

Then there was blast that had Case diving into the dark red ground. A hovering metallic zig had arrived as backup, and judging by the garbled squawk in her visor, the Dog Squad had decided retreat was also a better choice. Fine, except there was still one xeno left to load, a Zaruboggan and not inclined to speed. Case ran back towards him.

To her relief, at the edge of her vision she could tell that one friendly skell remained, ready to fight the zig. One skell, it could manage that for a while, and Case would back him up in just a second, once she got the heavy breather tucked away safely. That done, she turned and her heart sank. It wasn't a Harrier. It was Ga Talea, maneuvering her research skell, swinging what can only be described as a glorified shovel. The sheer weight of each swing was actually managing to make the zig wobble, but it wasn't doing any true focused damage.

Case leaped in, and started by targeting the closest wing of the flying enemy, exposing a crack. This was enough that a hard swing by Ga Talea did more than go clunk. It went "krack!" and the wing slid off the attack drone. Before Case could reload, the research skell opened its arms wide, grabbed the zig, and fell forward. Forward into a grand flat-faced landing, straight into lava. The zig gave a squeal, a surprisingly touching sound, and the skell rolled over and sat on it. Case goggled. The zig shone as its metal siding turned liquid in the heat. "Must I officially request that you fire?" growled the Wrothian's voice in Case's helmet. She shook her head quickly, aimed, and quickly disabled the enemy. Only then did the research skell rise up from the lava and walk in a measured pace back to safety. There was minimal external damage, at least nothing much that Case could see, but it was moving slower than expected. They retreated back to the base camp.

The Wrothian denied that she had suffered any injury, of course. No one argued. Also, no one pointed out that she obviously moved with great difficulty. Her left knee, in particular, seemed to be bothering her. Case explained quietly to Akulov. Shortly thereafter, the Lieutenant announced that all the skells were going to need maintenance, and that everyone would take a down day the next day, staying at the base until said maintenance was complete. Any protests about wasting time so close to the end were met with a haughty silvery stare down. Ga Talea complained in great detail, and Akulov merely commented that she herself did not feel like losing team members because of want of due care. A day off it was to be.

Wonderful. Everyone safe, the Wrothian grumbling and basking in the sun, the other xenos chittering about the rich evidence they had collected. And Case had a full day of beating off her teammates.

She hadn't lasted past breakfast.

* * *

 **a/n: Regarding the title, yes, I just went there. This one was very short, because that's how the plot broke. Generally, these chapters are running on the short side, but this was the Queen.**

 **My newest fantasy: XCX port to Nintendo Switch (confirmed), with playable xeno DLC (totally fiction). Alexa & HB were DLC in Japan, so I'm not completely insane. Mostly, but not completely. We'll hear more about Monolith and the Switch by this time next week, squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Or! Or! An H.B. amiibo (you know the pose)! (Send help.)**

 **Next up: Gwin and some energy bars, probably the high point of the mission for Case. Because of the energy bars.**


	4. Breakfast

**Breakfast, or Cauldros Picnic**

 **a/n: Gwin has Case's back, because he respects a fellow BLADE with a hollow leg.**

 **Swears, creeps.**

 **All the good stuff belongs to Monolith Soft. Case and the Dog Squad are mine. And, in closing, Xenoblaaaaaaaaaade Two!**

* * *

Gwin looked at the remains of the eggs and sausage, lying in the dirt by the empty watch post. "She's a clumsy one, that Head Case," grunted the oldest of the Dog Squad, a man named Murphy. He gave a low laugh.

"I can make her some more."

"Don't bother. She eats like a little birdy. Or a pussy. Whaddya think suits her better?"

Gwin moved away quickly. He didn't need Irina to remind him to give that team as much distance as possible. She'd officially ordered the other Interceptors to keep away by the end of the second day. To be honest, he'd have ditched the whole Dog Squad back in NLA. Irina was too soft-hearted sometimes. Well, not exactly soft-hearted, but she let people get away with crap for a little longer than you'd expect, sort of as a way of proving that she didn't hate everyone and everything. If she rode you, it meant she liked you and didn't have to prove anything. Kind of reminded him of the colonel, except Elma never lost her temper, and Irina could only compensate for a short time.

Didn't mean he had to avoid Case, though. He kind of liked her. Mostly silent, only saying something when none of her team was listening, and then usually something mean and rude and funny. Or useful, in as few words as possible. Always by the books towards Irina and Ga Talea, less so but still respectful towards everyone else. She'd been part of the Great Berry Hunt months ago, the start of Tatsu's weird love affair with syrup and pancakes and jam for dinner. The whole group had been invited to stay for dinner that night, and he remembered her eating like an unstoppable machine, and saying about as little as Cross. She packed away as much as he or Irina could manage, and she probably would have kept on going, except she was polite. So the whole "not hungry" thing? That was bull. Murphy had dumped her breakfast, and Gwin knew this wasn't the first time she'd missed a meal because of some side job her team had sent her on. What a basket of creeps, that trio.

Gwin sighed. He probably should bring her something for a snack. He went back into the team shelter, a fairly sturdy setup with 4 rooms, 3 for sleeping, one as a common area, and grabbed a couple of energy bars and a thermos of water. More than a couple, actually. He could go for a second breakfast himself, and with the mission winding down, anything they ate was something they didn't have to pack and carry home.

xcxcxcxcxcswitchxcxcxcxcxc

Case had walked away, just to get some distance. Not moving fast or an any direction. Wandering in Cauldros, about the stupidest hobby possible, but she needed to do something to protect the mission from herself. When she heard someone running after her, she didn't reach for her weapon. She couldn't risk shooting one of them in a fury. If that made her vulnerable to enemy, so be it. She could draw pretty fast, if it came to it.

Gwin Evans was smiling like he was bringing her the biggest prize ever just by being there. Not at all who she had expected to see, not what she asked for. She blanked her face and prepared to play nice. Then he handed her three meal replacement bars.

She almost dropped them in the dirt, she was so surprised.

"I grabbed all the indigen intestine flavored ones. They're labeled as chocolate, but we all know the truth." When she didn't respond, his voice lost a fraction of snark. "Hey, if you have trouble with it, I have some fruit ones too."

"I love these." She looked up from her hand and launched herself into a smile that matched his.

They'd walked just a little further, behind some rocks, and ducked down. Both were grinning like naughty kids, hiding from the teacher while scarfing down some illicit Halloween candy (sugar is evil, kids, and don't forget that). When they were done with Gwin's present, Case held up a hand to signal a pause, reached into a deep pocket of her pants, and pulled out five more. She hurredly shushed Gwin when he started to laugh. They polished those off too, splitting the fifth one.

After that, they simply sat, backs to the rock, looking out over the molten landscape. The base camp was just up the hill from a lake of lava dotted with islands of varying sizes. Case kept quiet, hoping that Gwin didn't start saying something normal, like how they should return to the camp. But he didn't speak either. They just sat, and waited for something to shift them. Flaming rain or a curious indigen, a ping on the comm device or their own sense of responsibility. It would happen, eventually.

Movement in the far edge of the lava pool caught her eye. She moved quietly towards the rocks at the very edge of the shore, keeping to a crawl in order to avoid similar attention. That's how she found that interesting scene, five Milsaadi gently tending a silver skell, and felt a sudden urge, unfightable, to steal that technology and bring it back to NLA. Case licked her lips and focused.

* * *

 **a/n: And we're back to where we started.**

 **Wow, but I am coming to loathe the Dog Squad (they WILL get beat up elsewhere, because in my stories justice happens in this world, not the next). The second part of the title is a nod to another story arc, Noctilum Picnic (Doug and crew enjoy watermelon and a tyrant). The Great Berry Hunt is mentioned in a different one-shot, Daughter Figure, although Case isn't named.**

 **Quick question: can I drop this story back to T? Or, based on the banter in chapter 1 and hard swears throughout, should it stay M?**

 **Unrelated whine: I've learned more of Alexa's canon in-game backstory, and my stories are now officially AU about her past. Sad to say, she did NOT go to UC Riverside and she did not start work right out of high school. Drat. Well, tough. I chose one path in the heart to heart, missed that info, and thus in MY universe, I'm still okay. Alexa doesn't show up in this story, but I had to get this off my chest. Thank you for your patience.**

 **Next up: How to hotwire a Milsaadi skell. Do not try this at home.**

 **Xenoblade 2 in 2017 (at least in Japan)  
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**


	5. How to Steal a Skell

**How to Steal a Skell**

 **a/n: The skell robbery starts in earnest now. No real chance of it working. But her name is Case, not Chance.**

 **Swears (or maybe not, I think this one is clean), some innuendo, badly written fight scenes.**

 **All the good stuff, like dear little Gwinny, belongs to Monolith Soft. Case is mine but plays in their world.**

* * *

Evans appeared at her shoulder before her thermal damage was repaired. With a repair time as short as hers, it meant only one thing: no explosions. He hadn't even tried. Case was surprisingly disappointed.

"No go, huh? Well, thanks for the offer."

"Ha. You'll eat those words. When do you want it blown?"

"Really? That rules."

"Yes, I do."

"Invitation still revoked."

"Erp."

Case laughed quietly. They still hadn't been noticed by the Milsaadi, and to their advantage, the batch of Marnuck had been sent away to an area somewhat out of range.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Gwin nervously. Sanity seemed to be returning to him.

Too bad. No such change in Case. "Can you set the timer for 5 seconds after I signal?"

"Only that?

"I'm gonna get so close, it'll be a miracle they don't see me."

"Who are we aiming at first?"

Case had already figured it out, choosing the enemy that looked weakest. Or at least the lowest ranked. Case knew how to spot who was least important. "You target that shorter male on the far left. I'll go straight in."

Gwin started to protest. "We should go in together, focus on the same targets."

"I need distraction. You come in the same direction as the blast, they think something real is happening someplace else. I'm not interested in winning against them, Evans."

"Just as well. I'm not sure how good we'd do."

She grinned at him one last time. "Some other time, let's give it a try. But today, I just need to get into that skell and go. Once I'm in, all you gotta do is run."

"You're going to need time."

"Not much. If you see that skell light up, you'll know."

xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2

Gwin was really starting to regret whatever had made him lose his mind and agree to help Case. All this time, and he hadn't thought about actually fighting the Milsaadi. Yet here they were, and she was about ready to launch herself into a fight she'd just admitted they could only lose. She'd told him to run at the right time, and said he'd know the time if he saw the skell start to work for her. If. This was beginning to feel like a dumb idea.

"And if it doesn't?"

" _When_ you see it, run." She sounded utterly convinced of the outcome. He was more than a little disturbed to feel himself suddenly agreeing. Milsaadi were almost unhittable mobile opponents, slender and fast, just like the weapons they carried, and he himself had a tendency to dig in and stand like a lump, but for some reason he thought that maybe, this time, he'd get off more hits than he'd receive.

Case had scooted off to the right, closing the gap between her and the skell. Then, without giving him another glance, she raised a hand, made a fist and dropped it. He hit the 5 second timer for the explosion, and got his rifle ready.

He shot the Milsaadi a heartbeat before the explosion echoed through the area. Even with an environment made primarily of lava, he felt a little extra heat coming from that direction. Sweet. He must have guessed right when he'd spotted what looked like a fuel tank on one of the enemy skells. His smile lasted about two more heartbeats before he heard the assassin sweep past him, and felt a blow to his side that almost sent him to his knees. Maybe he'd been wrong. He slid into a power dive, knowing how stupid it made him look. Still, sometimes it…

Worked. The Milsaadi flopped onto the tuff like an empty cape, and its partner skidded past Gwin, not landing one blow. Gwin switched to his long sword, swinging in a wild circle. Case might only ask for distraction, but that didn't mean he wasn't going try to take down as many enemy as possible. Too bad it missed more than half of the remaining group, but he felt one solid hit and saw a Milsaadi pushed back. Into lava. Double sweet.

A Milsaadi blade almost shaved the grin off his face. That evasion was pure luck. The gravity effect that another of them had launched at him had dragged Gwin down just enough that he accidentally dodged needing a new smile. He started to sweat, and rolled away, trying to get some distance from these close-up killers. Where was Case? Could he start to run now, maybe?

He crouched and aimed low with his rifle, but the targets leapt up and high beyond his range. He couldn't track them fast enough as they seemed to fly into the sky. Arrows to the sun, and when they landed they'd go straight through him. He only hoped he could switch into a defensive stance fast enough when they hit ground. There were still three flying up and soon they'd be coming down. He braced himself.

Except the Milsaadi had deviated from their initial trajectory. They'd coalesced around something else. Something silver and big, also flying up, but uncertain and slow. Case had gotten the skell up and that meant one thing.

Gwin ran.

xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2

Case stayed hidden, even as she heard the initial shots and explosion. Go, Gwin, go! Not bad, he'd drawn the attention of 4 of the guards, and she was ready to work her plan for lucky number five. She didn't actually tap the enemy on his right shoulder and dodge around his left side, but it sure felt like it. She pushed him back about 2 meters with the first shot, enough to get to the skell. Another explosive shot had flung him almost straight into Gwin's fight. She dropped any thought about the Milsaadi after that, focusing only on the skell.

It was silver bright, twice the height of her, with limbs that snaked almost to the ground. It looked like an exaggerated Milsaadi, to be honest, every aspect extenuated and ready to slice. She looked up at it, the silver reflecting in her pale green eyes. One hand slapped a triangular marker, the latch, circled by lacework in bronze.

Nothing opened. She pressed harder, the flat of her hand on the center of the skell. She went into tiptoe to push more force up into it. A Milsaadi was going to notice soon. Come on, baby, open for me. Let me in and let me be so good to you. Don't you want to fly?

Still nothing opened. A dark red flicker poured over her hand and wrapped around her wrist and arm. She felt a shot pound her back, but she didn't turn. The blow only pushed her into the skell. She braced herself against it with her other hand, and the same red force now reached along both arms. Sweetie, don't mind, I'm still here for you, open sesame.

She was starting to panic. The skell wouldn't open. The pilot hatch refused to shift. It wouldn't open. She needed to jump in, and soon. But it would not open. She would have pounded on it, but she realized now that the red glow was burning into her arms, keeping her glued to the metal. Let me in.

A flicker of pale blue ether pushed back towards the skell, starting from near where her shoulder joined her arm. When it hit the red pulse, there was something akin to a handshake. A prickle on her neck assured her that her request had been acknowledged. Then the skell accepted her.

It didn't work like a human skell. Nothing opened, and nothing lowered or shifted. Instead, it was like the transport beam used by the Ma-non. A sort of dark sucking, up through a tube, except without any real movement. One minute, she was banging on the door (without actually being able to bang), the next she was swaddled in oily darkness. Wires were pinching the back of her neck, kept in place by jagged needles. It hurt. There was a rumble as the skell powered up. More wires were reaching for her, slicing into her arms and legs, creating a horrible tingling sensation, a screeching in her muscles. Now she could see an alien readout, clearly engine stats and weapon readiness. But somehow the screen was located behind her own eyes. She closed her eyes shut to check. Open, shut, she saw it, and open, shut, she realized she was in utter darkness on the outside.

Had she known it would work like this? Something placed inside her mimeosome had told her to do this, and how, and was even now trying to work with the alien skell. Three things were going on in her mind, all at once, pain and information and a chittering negotiation. It had happened before, not often, enemy tech that came alive for her, briefly. Useful on missions, but frightening. Except they assured her it was okay, that it was all part of her enhancements. She was built for it, really.

Then the skell was lifting, slowly. Not exactly in her head, but probably nowhere else either, she could see the path the skell was taking, and within her limbs she could feel it turning, aiming itself for Primordia.

* * *

 **a/n: I want to steal a Milsaadi skell so bad, I can't even say. Or play as a Milsaadi assassin. Because they are horrible awesome enemies. [Warning! I may be in the process of writing Milsaadi/Cross fanfiction. Consider yourself warned.]**

 **Suggestions for casual wear for Nagi now open. Because that will be a thing.**

 **Next up: Everyone runs along home.**

 **Six weeks until Switch  
** **oh how will I be able to stand it?!  
** **well, I could always try to play another 100 hours of XCX in the meantime...**


	6. Run Along Home

**Run Along Home**

 **A/n: A successful skell theft requires two things: getting the skell and getting away. Run, kids, run!**

 **Swears, pain, badly written fight scenes, and irritated Interceptors.**

 **All the good things belong to Monolith Soft, but Case and Rosalee (baby!) are mine.**

* * *

Gwin didn't think about much beyond speed as he raced back for the base. Speed, swears that matched the crunching rhythm of his footfalls, and the hope that it would be his team on guard duty. The Milsaadi had gone directly to their skells and launched themselves after Case, but there had still been a handful of Marnuck that had appeared, almost sprung up from the ground like so many homicidal mushrooms (which Mira also had, very tasty on pizza if chewy).

In sight of the camp, but not right at it, Gwin had swung back and readied himself for combat. If he could stay on his feet for the short time it took the others to notice, the xenos wouldn't be put in danger. Better he should suffer alone than he should lead the enemy directly to them.

As he zeroed in on the lead attackers, he heard a voice over his comm device. "Gwin, you stupidhead, no, just no. After this, you and me, we need to talk." Rosalee snarling in his ear, and the rays from her ranged weapon zinging over his shoulder. She also spared the time to send a heal his way, which was nice, because the Marnuck actually were on the tough side. He swung and downed the first, temporarily. More ranged weapon fire, coming from the good side, his side, and then he had the pleasure of seeing Irina topple two of them. That was all the advantage they needed, and they polished off the rest quickly.

"No, Gwin. No more pets for you. I don't care what follows your stupid ass home, no!" screamed Rosalee down at him. Like he'd expected to have this happen when he'd gone to deliver a snack to Case, what was it, not 20 minutes ago.

"You've got a good explanation, I hope?" Irina snapped at him as he raced up to the camp.

"Case. Stole a skell. One of theirs," he panted. "A group is following her."

"What?!"

"We should make sure she's okay."

"She's headed here?"

"No. Back to NLA."

Irina tossed her head. "They'll drop off once she passes the border. What gave her that brilliant idea?"

Gwin was still breathing hard, probably more from excitement than his mim's need for air. "I'm not sure they will. It was special. A prototype maybe. Least, that's what she said."

"Case is an expert in skells now?"

"It looked different to me too." He flicked out his comm device and showed her a picture of the skell.

"May I see that?" requested Ga Talea. The Wrothian, injured as she was, had reached the fighters more quickly than the other humans. She looked at it briefly. "Definitely a novel design, including touches that might be from the Vita. The weaponry is impressive."

"It's got all the weapons of a paper clip," scoffed Irina.

"None of it is external. The limbs themselves are the weapons, able to strike directly, or pour out energy. Very efficient design, and perfect for their pilots. You say Case was able to interact with it? Tell me how."

"I was sort of distracted, trying to get the guard away."

Rosalee snorted. "Right into our laps, fool."

"Not them, five Milsaadi. I can't swear to it, but I think the skell sort of swallowed her, and then it took off. The Milsaadi followed after it."

"BLADE Akulov, if we abandon the camp, will it cause much trouble?"

Irina frowned thoughtfully. "Enough, but there's been worse things. Why?"

"We should follow that skell. All three teams. Immediately."

xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2

There is a long blank stretch of ocean past Sylvalum, before you reach Primordia. Case's inner vision showed water, and more water. Usually a time when pilots rested. But Case was struggling, starting to lose control of her breathing and her stomach. Things were changing in her mind, and her instinct was to resist. Typical Head Case, tell her a thing, and she'd say no, just for spite. Or stupid. A remembered voice sneered this, and for once she grabbed at the insult, clung to it. Damn straight, something's wrong and I'm saying no.

The land swung up before her. She lowered her flight path, and was rewarded with flashes of Primordia. Plains and trees and indigen, all of it familiar. But the skell was painting targets in novel ways. Instead of aiming for the joints or horns, it traced arteries and spines. The ground beneath larger prey was lit a weird purple. Gravity effects? Case wished she could stop to figure it out, but she was running out of strength. The wire knives hadn't stopped when she'd launched, crawling up her legs and arms. She hoped they were just wires. A combination of numbness and pain was spreading through her whole body. By now it was taking away most things that should feel important. She was down to the basic thought: get home, get out, let someone else be clever.

The skell rattled sharply, and the display split in her mind. A small portion remained dedicated to the flight, but most was now detailing a group of figures, trailing her. The connection was still incomplete, so she couldn't be sure of all the data being presented, but they looked like typical Milsaadi enemies, and the numbers suggested they'd hadn't just been following her since Cauldros. "Finally caught me, did ya?" she muttered, then choked as something metalic and slimy stole into her mouth. The display showed the trace of a blast, very slowly making its way to her. The skell rattled again, and dipped.

Nothing to do but start swerving to avoid hits. She had the edge on them for speed, so long as she could keep the skell convinced not to engage the enemy. Only ranged weapons had any chance, but what prototype has shields worth considering? Every hit was dangerous, even the ones that glanced.

Worse yet, she was starting to feel whisper thin, like cloth turned to ash but still keeping its form. The desire to stop fighting and let the skell do whatever it wanted was so tempting. She saw BLADE tower, green, safe, home, and for a second she rejoiced. Then her weapons locked onto it.

That was the end of joy, maybe forever. What little energy Case had turned to panic. Shut them down! Shut them down! I'm a trap, a fucking bomb. No! She couldn't control all that she needed to, speed and weapons and maneuvers. But mostly weapons, she'd give all of it up if she could just remove the marks on the tower. The skell shook hard, and dropped. Must have been more than a glancing blow, that last hit. There might not be much more flight left. But NLA was so close. If she could get past the wall, past the tower, there might be someone to help her.

* * *

 **a/n: Another example of writing stories with disposable characters and ending up loving them so bad. Rosalee! She showed up in "Twitchy Tales/1", got her own arc in "Rosalee & Lucky", and kidnapped my brain for "Day of the Dead". Rosalee, GO SAVE CASE! I gave you a life, a brother, and a (hinted & unrequited) love interest. Go save my baby Cross for me! Do it, and I'll see about making it a requited love interest.**

 **Next up: The fight is on. Pray for me, because I HATE WRITING FIGHT SCENES. Even if I get to include Nagi (squee). (Eventually, he gets to wear casual clothes, about the only thing keeping me going. Suggestions are now open.)**


	7. Targets

**Targets**

 **a/n: An epic battle on the promontory in front of BLADE tower. News at 11.**

 **Swears, so badly written fight sequences. If anyone can give me information on Milsaadi attack preferences (type, move names, etc.), please send it in, because that needs so much help.**

 **All the good stuff belongs to Monolith Soft. Case, Rosalee, and Neesae are mine.**

* * *

The smart thing would have been to land right outside the East Gate. The smart thing would have been to crash into that dirt path that led to Oblivia, near the temporary station, and let them protect her. They were Harriers, right? The smart thing would have been to fall like a stone after being shot directly, shut everything down, including herself if necessary, and see if she woke up the next morning.

Case was so far from doing the smart thing, she didn't even consider it. She wasn't sure she COULD land any earlier. She knew she couldn't shut the skell down. It wanted to get to NLA. She hoped that was because she wanted it so badly, but the way the systems were painting the tower, locking on to weaknesses she didn't recognize, she was deeply afraid that it had other desires.

Which left only one decision, the best of a dozen bad choices: where to land inside NLA. Not the residential area, no help there and too many civilians. The industrial area was too crowded, all shipping crates and random machinery, and any fight would get messy. She could easily get trapped there in the narrow back areas. Commerical Drive, that had space and a fair access to help, but it was still just too crowded with non-combatants, xenos included. Which left the Administrative District. She'd certainly get attention, and fast, all BLADEs on deck, and a decent number of weapons. She didn't like getting that close to BLADE tower, but nothing that big and obvious didn't also come with its share of defenses. The weapons systems agreed with her, and were seeking out weird options, power lines and key supporting structures. So she'd land there, and let BLADE do their best to stop her attackers while she tried to control this skell's desire for combat. If she could manage the lower level, even better.

She was lucky to get over the wall. Twin blasts, nicely balanced, darkened the displays in her mind. For an instant, she was trapped in a suffocating darkness, no sensation but the continued pain from the connections sliced deep into her flesh. By the time the skell had lit back up, she only had a moment to recognize the deck rushing straight at her. She'd done better than expected, really. The promontory in front of BLADE tower, nice. Then the prototype skell smashed into and through a helicopter (sorry, she owed the Prospectors big time, sorry), continuing in a skid before stopping 4 meters from the edge.

Case would have lain there, given a choice. But the skell had other ideas, and she needed to keep paying attention or she'd completely lose control. They rolled to their knees, then stood, jerkily, but straight. Her mind screen was flashing at various figures. Small ones, still distant but running forward. Oh no you don't, you leave them be, thought Case as she snapped target after target off the ground forces. The prototype hesitated fractionally, and began painting larger targets. Better, but Case still wouldn't agree. Sure, she knew the ground fighters must be allies, but through the twisted interface, she couldn't quite make out which skells were friendlies, and which ones were enemies. They all seemed to want her dead.

Another shuddering hit, and Case smiled through gritted teeth. Standing and taking it, that she could do. Finally, something she was qualified at.

xcxcxcxcswitchxcxcxcxc

Gwin leaned forward in the pilot seat. He knew, of course he knew, that this wouldn't make the skell go any faster. Ares models went plenty fast as it was, and they'd gained ever so slightly on the enemy group. But he couldn't help it, he really wanted to reach New Los Angeles before Case and her whole mess of crazy got there.

Not a chance. The enemy had several minutes lead on them, even with everyone at the Cauldros camp doing the required prep before slamming into skells. Minimal, fractional prep. He only hoped no one had left anything on the stove, because the camp would probably be burnt down before they got back. The ultimate insult, a smoldering tent surrounded by lava. He shook his head to erase the distraction.

"I'm reading heavy energy discharges, just next to Armory Alley," Neesae said in her precise voice.

"What the hell? Doesn't she know to keep out of the city?" Irina sounded absolutely disgusted. All during the flight to Primordia, she kept insisting that they'd find no problem whatsoever, that the enemy would have given up, that no prototype was worth this grief. At the same time, she and Rosalee had run about five different attack plans, all of them assuming a full complement of enemy and no assistance from Case, BLADE, or the Dog Squad tagging along behind. Favorite version, double team on neighboring targets. "You guys are gonna give me Gwin, aren't you?" Neesae had complained. "Love you too, Nees," Gwin had shot back.

Now it looked like the second conversation was the valid one. He saw the strange silver skell, almost on the edge of the overlook, moving too slowly to avoid all the attacks against it, and definitely putting up no fight whatsoever.

"You said there were five, Gwin!" shouted Rosalee.

"Four. I don't think one of the Milsaadi is getting out of that lava, ever."

"Whatever. Because I count seven." She was right, of course she was right.

"Who knew I was this popular?" sneered Irina. "Doesn't change a thing. We work our way down the line, from my left. Go."

The team followed her direction. Gwin and Neesae locked on to the second skell, aiming at the shoulder joints first. From the start, he knew was going to be a bad fight. The cooldown on his big hits was too long, and the regular attacks weren't working on opponents that moved this fast. It dodged Gwin's strikes more often than not. Then Gwin's luck failed him completely. Three blasts, hitting from three directions and almost simultaneously, and he barely had time to hit the emergency release before his ride was scrapped. Crap, that insurance was not cheap, he was screwed until next month's paycheck. He was on his feet and racing to the far side of the skells, to the very front of the outlook. Standard for his team: if you couldn't fight, you were a liability, so get out of the way. He noted that the three women had switched up, and were focusing together on a single target, making a little more headway, but still too slow.

There was a limit to where he could run, not that he would leave his team, ever. He was still drawing fire from the enemy, not directly, but because even Milsaadi, focused assassins that they are, can put out some area attacks. Not everything was hitting only the other skells. He hitched up his rifle and laid out something to slow the enemy.

A dumb idea, no question, because he was in no shape to counter the attention of even a single skell. He'd counted on the enemy staying focused on his team and on Case. Unfortunately, they must have figured out that Case wasn't retaliating, maybe couldn't even, and they were confident enough in their numbers to pay him some mind. Or maybe he had just pissed that one fighter off; he was known to have that effect on people. The attacks become direct, buckling the deck around him, and he'd had to dive, swerve, and roll with increasingly less success at avoiding them. Skell insurance and next month's paycheck dwindled in importance. And probability. He just might get wiped today.

Gwin felt a wave of heat as a thermal attack blew past him, rivaling Cauldros temperatures. A change from the previous physical and gravity attacks, and strangely missing him completely. As he tried to figure it out, he saw the skell that had been attacking him jerk suddenly, its shoulder twisting upwards but not as part of an attack strike. It jerked again, sideways, then three more times, before it curled up, almost in a fetal position, and went still. A human figure, katana in hand, was revealed.

"Wow, Mr. Secretary! That was totally …" Words failed Gwin. He didn't want to sound like a complete fanboy, but the only word coming to mind was "awesomesauce". He settled for the obvious. "Thank you, sir!"

"This has interrupted my coffee break. I'm expecting an explanation, Gwin." Nagi was already in overdrive and moving forward.

"Wait!" Gwin blocked him, a thing he never imagined doing. Nagi had been moving towards, and maybe against, Case. "The silver one, that's piloted by one of our people. We need to protect her."

Nagi only flicked a glance at the Interceptor before switching against a standard model enemy. He wasn't particularly upset by the day's events. Yes, his morning coffee had been disturbed, but on the plus side, he'd had to drop his mug, an extremely clumsy and lumpy object, not at all his taste, but unfortunately also a gift from the elderly and respected Nopon leader Nan. If he was lucky, it would be broken beyond repair. He made a note to make sure that was the case. "Target where I target," he ordered Gwin.

"Yes, sir, um, wait, I have an idea…" Gwin turned and raced towards the prototype skell. Not perhaps the safest place to stand, because Case was coming in for more than a fair share of blasts. He looked up at what he thought might be the pilot's carriage. "Case! Hey!" he shouted. "Look where we're hitting. See if you can target right there, okay?" He pointed to himself, to the motionless silver skell, and then to where Nagi was swinging away at a dark enemy skell. No response, although he had the strangest feeling that the prototype was staring at him. He shrugged and ran back to stand by the Secretary. Maybe he'd see his next paycheck after all.

* * *

 **a/n: BLOSSOM DAAAAAAAANCE! I still have the urge to press the A button in a rhythmic way. Someday, I will use the line "Born in a world of strife" in a XCX story, and you will know to send help. Gwin's response is pretty much my response to all Nagi-related gameplay. Squee.**

 **Next up: More. Fight. Scenes. Which I hate writing. But Irina's voice, if only briefly, so that's a nice bonus.**

 **Four weeks until Breath of the Wild  
Which Monolith Soft worked on  
** **I plan to lose my mind  
(what little remains)  
** **squee!**


	8. Case Finds the A Button

**Case Finds the A Button**

 **a/n: More fight scenes, involving way too many skells. The prototype and Case reach an understanding.**

 **Swears, and badly written fight scenes, in brief chunks because that's all I can stand.**

 **All the really good stuff belongs to Monolith Soft. Needless to say, Case is mine.**

* * *

Case squinted at the displays from the alien skell. It seemed to help her control the machine's movements, even though she knew she wasn't seeing the read-outs with her eyes. A tiny figure, a mere insect, immaterial but nonetheless painted as a potential target, was gesturing in front of her. Wave down, wave up, wave over at another machine. Then off it ran, to attack its enemies, and Case's skell assessed the insect's offensive strength derisively.

Case considered this as she repressed yet another suggested attack sequence against what she knew must be a friendly fighter. Something about the insect's gestures reminded her of someone. It shouldn't be this difficult to figure out, but the noisy interface between her brain and the skell's controls was making everything hard to understand correctly. Plus the pain, and the constant fear that she was going to attack her own people. "Me, you, them," thought Case. "Me. You … He's giving me targets." She opened her eyes wide, again a pointless action, and stared at the indicated opponent. An oversized, heavy fighting skell. Case was suddenly sure it was a standard Ganglion design. How could she not have recognized those pincers and rounded joints? She watched as two small figures struck repeated blows to its ankles. It responded with an area blast that knocked the original insect into a rolling dive. This one, she thought. This one she wanted to fight. Not avoid. Not escape. She wanted this one dead.

Something switched in the prototype skell. Previously, all the targeting had a sketchy quality, faint purple and blue lines that covered but didn't distract from the main view. She had swiped them away without feeling the skell regret her choices. Now the lines were clear and yellow behind her eyes, and the main points of attack were linked to specific weapons and sequences. Weaponry readied itself, and heat flowed around her arms and legs. Her muscles contracted painfully. The shakes that she had been fighting since they'd left Cauldros now bloomed throughout her body. A question appeared in her head, not of her own thoughts. A very specific request, translated imperfectly but effectively.

:new:target:Y/n?

Case's teeth were rattling, but she kept her eyes fixed on the skell that she wasn't actually seeing. Then she nodded her head. /Yes/

Boom.

xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2

For the past few hours, Irina had had no shortage of things to curse. She'd started with Gwin and his random Marnuck friends, then moved quickly to that freak show Case. Once they reached New Los Angeles, she'd switched to cursing the Milsaadi enemy. Her team was going to win, but it wouldn't be a clean win. When Gwin got himself scrubbed, she spared a few words for him (again), before refocusing on the enemy.

She felt as much as saw the other two teams land on the promontory. Good. That would be the Dog Squad, a fair bit late but nonetheless welcome, and the xenos, less welcome but smart enough to keep out of the way, she hoped. Her team had held out against the 7 enemy skells, six within a few minutes after her team regrouped, then five once … holy crap, is that the Defense Secretary fighting on foot with Gwin? She'd sworn again then, not sure if she was angry at Gwin for needing his neck saved by Nagi, or embarrassed, or just a little jealous. "Do not bring shame on your division, Evans," she muttered.

Fleeting thoughts. Her focus was on the 5 remaining enemy skells. Her team of three plus the possibly useful three of the Dog Squad, that should be more than enough, even without Gwin or Nagi or that useless lunatic that was Case. Or the xenos. Six against five was fine by her, she didn't need to fight fair.

From the extreme edge of her vision, something flashed, glowed brilliantly for a few seconds, then dimmed. Make that 4 remaining skells. Irina wasn't sure what had happened, but maybe Case had finally found her ride's ON switch.

xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2

:electric:embrace:complete:effect:0.62:shoulder:right:detached:shoulder:left:detached:target:null:new:target:Y/n?

Case struggled to understand. She had reached out and hugged the opposing skell, the one that had been blasting away at the insects. Electricity had flowed out and along the arms of her opponent, blinding her, and then she'd felt the two arms slide off the other machine. She let the bare torso slip out of her embrace. It fell and lay motionless on the deck. She'd seen it with eyes that weren't her own, and felt the tearing zing of the power shred along her skin as the electrical surge left her skell. An effective way of transmitting data, more immediate than displays, but agonizing.

Using this prototype skell felt all wrong, but it clearly longed for her to say yes. She followed the little target as it dashed towards another machine. Insect, not target. No, wrong, so wrong. She scrunched her eyes and shook her head madly. The display never flickered from her vision.

:new:target:Y/n?

Still shaking, she wiped the targeting off him again. She couldn't recognize who was on her side anymore, except she knew this figure was someone she knew. An ally, a human, somebody that she had to trust. If he was fighting that next skell, then that was going to have to be good enough for her. She switched her ride's focus to the larger opponent.

/Yes/

:potential:full:engaging:target:inner:weight:

xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2

This prototype was a monster, thought Gwin. It had ducked and risen in the most graceful fashion, straight at the skell he and Nagi had been fighting. That Nagi was still fighting, while Gwin was trying to get off his hands and knees after a sturdy hit. Case's skell hadn't stopped until it was directly against the enemy, chest to chest. Then it had grabbed the other skell and, well, he wasn't sure what had happened next. A surge of electricity, strong and bright enough to turn the air into ozone and put whirls and nebulae in his vision, probably for days, and then it had discarded the dead skell with a careless flick. Gwin stared at it for a second, and felt the hairs on his neck rise. If it decided to attack him, he was beyond all chances. Something like that would scrub him instantly.

The Secretary was already attacking the neighboring enemy, ranged attacks now, drawing it away from the rest of the fight and closer to the edge of the deck. God, that man was focused and smart in a way that Gwin would never manage, probably. Right, whatever this prototype was good for, let's not have it cause any friendly fire, because, well, it was a monster.

Gwin aimed and fired along with Nagi. Hopefully, Case would get the message.

xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2xc2

While it was true that Case wasn't a big fan of skells, she had spent her share of time in them. She'd certainly gone into overdrive enough times, less than others, maybe, but she was familiar with all that came with that upgrade. The added power, the intense focus, the slight dilation of time.

Whatever this skell was doing, it wasn't your daddy's overdrive.

If the readout had always seen incoming strikes in slow motion, now they were practically frozen. There seemed to be no distance between her and the skell itself. She felt the weapons readying in her very bones. The feeling of release, of gravity waves against metallic foe, was almost a pleasure, except that along with the perfection of it came the feeling that skin was being peeled from her arms and legs. Case readied herself for one more attack. Something heavy was rising up and over her back. Or maybe the skell's back. Her lungs expanded until she thought her chest would crack, before one last release. The prototype stood straight, while deep within the metal frame Case's body curled up around itself.

The display never wavered. She saw, very clearly, how all that energy, every scrap of it, focused down into a single point in the center of the enemy target. As her body squeezed down, so did the attack squeeze. A fist, crumpling the opponent from the inside. The enemy's limbs contracted, and it hunched, knelt, died.

:inner:weight:complete:effect:0.87:appendge:unchanged:taget:null:new:target:Y/n?

The communication was dry, if you put it into human words, but she sensed a relish underneath their connection, a delight that no machine should carry. Case felt nauseous. But in the corner of the display, she saw that the insect was up and fighting again. She didn't have the strength to see it any other way now. She didn't have the strength to say no.

/Y/

What happens when we run out of enemy? She realized, tiredly, that she wasn't sure she'd still be around to find out.

* * *

 **A/n: I KNEW there was a reason this skell was worth stealing. Score so far: Irina's team: 1, Nagi: 1, Case: 2, 3 to go. Suggestions for casual wear for Nagi still open.**

 **Formatting wouldn't let me use periods in the skell's voice, too much like website addresses I guess. So enjoy a bouquet of colons.**

 **Next up: We deal with the remaining three enemy skells. So then the fight is over, right? And I won't have to write anymore fight scenes, maybe ever? Right? Bonus: Ever wonder if skells think?**


	9. Tag Team

**Tag Team**

 **a/n: Score at the start: Irina's team: 1, Nagi: 1, Case: 2. We just have 3 enemy skells left. Go Team!**

 **Swears, poorly written fight scenes.**

 **All the marvelously good stuff belongs to Monolith Soft. Case, Ro, Neesae, and the Dog Squad are mine. Also the prototype, although if you met the Rexoskell, you met its granddaddy.**

xcxcxcswitchxcxcxc

:inner:weight:complete:effect:0.87:appendge:unchanged:target:null:new:target:Y/n?

/Y/

The prototype slid easily into the next sequence. It spat out the obligatory report to its pilot. Not strictly necessary, but expected, and far easier than overriding protocols.

:overdrive:0.31:engaging:target:lifting:sun:

The skell curved its arms forward, and began a looping swirl of electricity, ready to push a ball of force at the target, another Ganglion skell. When the pilot had finally agreed to engagement, the prototype had noted the Ganglion origin of its enemies. Nothing in the protocols indicated that it should be targeting its own kind, but nothing was against it. Strictly speaking, none of the skells it had fought were its own kind anyway.

It was 0.0045 seconds away from completion of the energy packet when the skell next to the target slammed into the prototype with a physical attack that detached its right arm. The pilot reacted with full body vibrations, but no changed commands.

:potential:0.00:overdrive:interrupted:damage:shoulder:right:detached:engagement:physical:Y/n?

…

Y/n?

…

Y/n?

… /Y/ …

The skell was irked, and placed a request for future diagnostics. All trip long the pilot had responded reluctantly and very incoherently. The connection would need improving. It also noticed several mini-cycles within its own routines where the decision tree flickered, at first uncertain of the exact action of the enemy, and then selecting several sub-optimal but highly destructive sequences.

In short, for a moment, the skell had been unable to believe its eyes, and then had almost acted with pure rage.

All this went a ways towards proving that even a hesitant pilot was useful. The skell wasn't sure the pilot was 1.00 online, but in any case the delay had allowed a more efficient sequence to gain superiority.

The skell didn't need both arms to take care of its enemy. It stretched high, then leapt up, out of the reach of the new fighter, and flipped over the original target. Its left arm extended into an electric blade, curved almost 120 degrees at the tip. As it hurtled down onto the decking, the tip of the weapon pierced the back of the other skell's neck, and the force of the prototype's fall pushed the edge inward, then down the length of the back. The prototype landed into a crouch and spun, whipping the electric edge across the torso and out the right side of the twitching skell. No appendage breakage, disappointing. It let the force of its spin move it farther away from the second enemy. Wise, both for protection and to allow extra time to contact the sluggish pilot. Even with this evasive maneuver, the prototype felt a series of blasts from the opposing skell. It didn't even bother to paint the little crawling organic targets.

:appendage:damage:0.00:target:null:new:target:Y/n?

…

/Y/

...

xcxcxcxcxcswitchxcxcxcxcxc

Irina was disappointed with the Dog Squad. Not exactly surprised, sure, but still disappointed. They were down to three enemy skells; it shouldn't be anything less than a cake walk to finish them off. They were fighting two to one, after all, without counting ground forces and the random element of Case's prototype. And yet. And yet! Those Harriers might be heavy hitters, but they remained deeply annoying.

Her team (minus that milksop Gwin) were starting a well-practiced sequence against the largest Ganglion skell standing, the one closest to the BLADE tower. She had gotten herself targeted, which allowed Rosalee enough time to place a good aura on everyone, and Neesae to get in position to bind the sucker. She even had enough time to punch it in the head a couple of times, using her flail. Tuned against mechanical foes too, she congratulated herself smugly. She noted that the last two Ganglion skells were now completely ignoring the BLADE fighters, in skells or otherwise. Focused on Case, she guessed. Whatever. Somebody would deal with them eventually.

She'd never expected a blow from behind. No enemy there. She could count to seven, and there was no enemy left to sneak behind her. It wasn't actually a blow so much as a shove, and she whipped her display to the side to see the off-putting view of the Dog Squad pushing its way into the fight area. One skell, probably that Murphy, had just _shoved_ her to the side. All the firepower he was dumping on the enemy didn't change the fact that his other teammate had blocked Neesae, moving her too far back, so no binding was going to happen anytime soon. If they kept it up, none of Irina's team would get a good swing at this enemy and that would make Rosalee's aura wasted.

Yeah, she could say she was disappointed in the Dog Squad. But she'd be lying. Disappointment didn't even begin to cover it.

"Neesae, Rosalee. Hit the next one. Let the dogs get this bone." She let the other women's complaints flow by her, although she felt a moment's regret that she couldn't follow Rosalee's comments in Spanish. She trusted her team to be already moving to match her command. They'd target the nearest of the remaining two skells and then they'd flip the Dog Squad for the last one.

Except there was only one enemy skell left. Damn, but maybe Case had a reason to steal that skell.

xcxcxcxcswitchxcxcxc

Gwin shook his head, trying to clear his vision. One of the area blasts had staggered him, and he was having trouble getting back up to speed. Lucky for Case, she didn't seem to need his help finding targets anymore. He revised his opinion. Maybe it wasn't so lucky. The enemy was focused on her in a way that indicated that if they had initially wanted to retrieve the skell, now they were determined to annihilate it. He cringed as he watched one of the silvery arms detach.

He flicked a glance towards Nagi. "Get in close," the other man shouted, already moving toward the closest enemy. Neither expected the leaping flip and shift Case did against her enemy. That skell, it moved like Milsaadi and hit with a sword of pure electricity. Gwin had to fall back or get flattened by severed bits of Ganglion skell.

As he stood, panting, almost at the edge of the promonitory's left side, he felt his admiration turn to concern. Case's skell might be awesome, but he knew she wasn't going to win this last battle. The other skell released a missle barrage that didn't seem to end, each one slamming into the prototype. She was being pushed even further than Gwin had been, to the very tip of the overlook.

"Sir, what can we do?"

"Keep firing. We do what we can and trust in our teams."

xcxcxcxcswitchxcxcxcxcxc

:potential:null:sword:offline:resume:1.25:disengage:Y/n?

The prototype seethed. Protocols demanded it place that question. Loathsome. It was a stupid question anyway, because the readings were already coming in, and there was no way it could run at this point. But the protocols said that when damage reached this high, the pilot had the option to disengage, and if they couldn't escape, the next sequence would be to self-destruct.

/n. HEasdlfj2r7AD_BUTT3289jlaevml_IF_jaodsfkj2_NECEr898ydsjfa;qSSkjdoi*(&(F&d9jaoj98*(*ARY&f9ja/

:input:corrupt:repeat:disengage:Y/n?

/n/

A fine response, and clear. Problem was, the decision trees weren't coming up with anything useful, and the impacts were reducing what few options the skell still had. A few missiles remained. If it could target the neck, it had a chance, otherwise they couldn't do enough damage. But its ability to lock on to points had been damaged.

:left:back:missiles:charging:launch:0.43:

xcxcxcxcxcswitchcxcxcxc

"Neesae, can you bind that skell?"

"Which one?"

"The enemy!"

"I repeat, which one?"

"The big ugly tar colored one, you rock headed idiot…" screamed Irina.

"Oh. You mean, you want this one bound?" said Neesae, smugly, purple energy already in place. She had a weird sense of humor, sometimes. Irina cursed herself silently. She must be rattled if she hadn't realized Neesae was maneuvering closer all this time.

She and Rosalee started pounding at the skell, focusing on melee weapons. They'd used most of the heavier hitters already, and the fighting was too frantic to wait for a cool down. But this skell, its shields must have been something else, because nothing seemed to be scratching it. She wasn't missing, and she doubted Rosalee was either. "Just how much resist does this thing have?" she yelled.

"Not now, boss. Kinda busy," Neesae said, jerkily. Maintaining the energy to hold an enemy was always distracting, but it sounded like she was getting a little jostled too. Sometimes an enemy skell could fight it. Rarely, but sometimes. Lucky day, all round. God damn Case and her worms for brains.

The bubble popped, unexpected, and Neesae went flying back. Irina heard her yowling over the comm link and sensed that she wasn't coming back up real fast. One good slice, and Rosalee was down too. Irina braced herself as the skell's weapons swept towards her own Ares 90. Her ride was designed to make other skells cry, not to take damage. Looked like her whole team might need more insurance.

The cannons were so close to on-line. If she could hold out another half a second, she could give it something to remember. If. The integrity sensor was dropping faster than a baby skell into the Oblivia gap. Then her vision blacked out and the skell screamed as the metal twisted.

"Crapcrapcrap!" Some instinct kept her from hitting the release switch, though. The world was dark, but along the edges she still could see level readings flickered red and yellow. The ugly metallic sound was from the skell being scraped back along the deck, not from being ripped to pieces. A fraction of a second later, the light levels rebalanced in her eyes. She still could barely make out shapes, but what she could see was impressive. Case's skell was dumping a load of missles, each brighter than the next, all at their mutual enemy. Not hitting too well, though, all a touch too high to get much of the skell's body. But certainly distracting.

"Aghasura Cannon," said Irina, relishing the words as she watched the ether arc up and then slam into the back and center of the enemy skell.

Xcxcxcxcswitchxcxcxc

:appendage:damage:crest:destroyed:target:null:new:target:Y/n?

Aiming for the neck hadn't been effective, even with appendage damage, and that would have to go in the report. However, the target was still down, possibly from the attacks of the slim skell now facing it. The next target.

/n/

Again with the wrong input! This pilot! Maybe it wasn't the connection, maybe it was the pilot itself.

:new:target:Y/n?

/n/

The skell painted a very clear strike order on the other skell. The opponent's armor was weak, its weaponry was depleted, one limb appeared to be off-line permanently, and yet the pilot still was not agreeing. The prototype tried to make the attack plans utterly obvious. If it struck now, it wouldn't need more than a physical attack to kill this one.

:new:target:Y/n?

/n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/

xcxcxcxcswitchxcxcxcxc

 **a/n: Pretty soon, I get to put Nagi in casual clothes. Suggestions are still open.**

 **This section took so long! Have I mentioned how much I hate writing fight scenes? [Yes. Yes, you have.] Salvation came when I tried the skell's pov, and an uncomfortable one it is too. I now have a backstory for the skell, btw. You know how Ganglion have been, er, harvesting humans/mims? Ever wonder what they did with all that material? They don't need robots, they've got Puge, thanks for asking. But enhanced skells, with senses and, er, thoughts? I am excited and horrified, and Alexa is just plain excited. If I get this into a future story, it will be even more of a horror show than this one.**

 **Confession: I wrecked my first skell in under 5 minutes, driving straight into … guess.**

 **Next up: I said I was done with fight scenes. I lied (again). Bonus: the return of Shovel Knight, and Blossom DAAAANCE.**


	10. No Cure for That

**A/n: More battle scenes. How come we have more battle scenes if we've wiped out the enemy? Whine.**

 **Hard swears, explosions.**

 **All the good stuff belongs to Monolith Soft, and I'm starting to wish I had an 8-minute timer for this story, like the tyrant clock. Am I going to get any tickets for this piece of work? (No.)**

* * *

:new:target:Y/n?

The prototype was targeting the friendly skell, the one that moments before had helped them by destroying the skell intent on dismantling them. Gratitude did not feature big with this skell.

/n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/ /n/

Case had already blacked out once during that fight, when the right shoulder had snapped off and slid away. She fought the returning darkness hopelessly. Each contact was pulling a little more self from her brain. All she could do was repeat and repeat the command. She wondered when the skell would start ignoring her.

Two more blasts, this time from the side, pushed her so far towards the edge that the skell had to scramble to stay on the upper deck. It whirled and changed its aim. More skells, bulky ones, not the dainty one she'd been trying to protect from her own fire. Case was past determining style of skell, Ganglion or human; she was down to big or little. Who were they?

Case choked in the effort to shut her ride down, because those skells weren't being targeted by the helpful ground insects. They weren't safe to fight. But who were they?

:new:target:Y/n?

/n/

In the back of her head, or in something's head, she caught a scoffing whisper.

:input:unreliable:repeat:Y/n?

/n/

:revise:input:

Felt a little like the skell was tired of that answer. Felt like she was blacking out again, and that maybe the skell was helping to make that happen. Felt like maybe she should hope someone else would stop her, because she was done. Still, she responded one more time.

/n/

xcxcxcswitcxcxcxc

Irina couldn't believe her eyes. The Dog Squad was targeting Case. What the hell was the point of chasing across 2 continents, an ocean, another continent, and then participating in the most embarrassing skell battle in full view of the whole of NLA, a battle that required the Secretary of Defense himself stepping in to save their skins, and which would inevitably be followed by an quiet and ruthless dressing down by him as well? What was the point of all that if they were going to try to kill Case themselves? Better to have stayed at the base camp and done crossword puzzles.

"You stupid assholes, that's your team member. Disengage."

"She's one of them." "Traitor." "Die little bitch."

Oh for the love of god. There is just no medicine for that kind of stupidity. The one bright point of her morning so far was the reappearance of Neesae's skell beside her. Rosalee's skell was still down, but the snappy black-haired woman was out and on foot, already facing the Dog Squad in combat stance. Even from a distance, Irina could see the fury on her face.

Irina barked to Neesae and Rosalee, "I hate to do this, but we need to take those guys out."

"Okay if we enjoy it a little, Lieutenant?" Rosalee's voice was clipped, even by comm standards.

"No, it's not okay," Irina snarled. "Remember that messages on comm links are public, so that's what I said and you heard, publicly. Now go make me proud."

Neesae had stayed silent, but just on the edge of Irina's vision, the world flickered purple. Somebody was getting bound, and bound good. The targeted skell started to shake. Impossible, of course. She and Rosalee were already attacking the Dogs closest to Case, and Neesae couldn't bind and attack at the same time. What Irina wouldn't give for that to be true, but it just didn't work that way. It wasn't curiosity that made her peek over at that side of the fight, Irina told herself. She needed to know what was going on.

Her eyes went wide, and she choked on a laugh. The entire xeno team must have decided to help, and they were using their skell probes in the most unscientific way against the bound skell. The largest technical skell was swinging a wide and flat collecting tool as a melee weapon, and making a rather good attempt at it. "Neesae…?" She didn't know what else to say beyond that.

"Not now, boss! Trust me, I'm getting it on video."

Irina pushed that promise of popcorn-worthy viral viewing from her mind and focused on the two "friendly" skells. Rosalee was engaged with the middle-sized one, Murphy, and damn if that girl wasn't getting the upper hand. Tune for mechanical foes, Irina had told her team before they'd left NLA. For all the danger, there hadn't been much fighting in Cauldros. Now, Rosalee was proving that not only had she listened, she'd tuned her gear to perfection. She looked good, diving low to avoid the slower swings of Dog Murphy, rolling to strafe him as she passed. She even did a little taunting dance as she popped to her feet, making sure he kept his focus only on her. She had that end well in hand. Irina peeled her eyes away from her teammate. She was free to concentrate on the last skell, the big one, the leader of the pack.

"Davis," she called across the comm link. "I'm gonna say this one last time. Disengage. She's friendly."

"She's a monster, and I'm putting her down." There was a crackle as he shut down communication. What, afraid he might be convinced to do the right thing? Worried someone might get him to follow orders? What a jerk. Irina narrowed her sharp grey eyes and got ready to target him with the last of her fuel and her weaponry. Just as soon as it got on-line. Which would be in about … never.

xcxcxcswitcxcxcxc

Gwin was getting more than a little tired of being pushed around, either from blasts or stagger or a heavy rain of machine part. When he looked over at Nagi, he felt ashamed for this internal whinge. The Secretary of Defense had turned to face one more opponent, with the same piercing strength he'd show against the previous one, and the one before that. And the one before that. And, well, all of the Ganglion before that. Gwin gripped his rifle a little harder and tried to buck up. He wasn't anywhere close to the same resolve, but he'd try and fake it.

He looked across the deck at the silver prototype. It wasn't looking nearly as bright as when he'd first seen it, in Cauldros surrounded by an attentive group of assassins. One limb removed, a smear of reddish oil over its torso, legs bent almost to kneeling. If a skell could pant, he swore this one was doing it. He hoped Case was still okay in there.

A moment later, he couldn't give a fuck how Case was doing. To his horror, the biggest BLADE skell, one belonging to the leader of the Dog Squad, swung its weaponry on Irina. He counted six repeated explosions. Every joint in her skell was hit, some twice. Her machine crumpled to the ground. Gwin didn't realize the howling sound was coming from his own mouth. "No!" He only managed to choke to a halt when he saw Irina picking herself unsteadily from the wreckage.

"No, I think not," said a calmer voice passing beside him. He watched as Nagi took three slow steps towards the attacking skell. Didn't need to make any more than that, because Davis was marching towards the point of the prominence, where Case's skell stood motionless except for some jerky twitches. Gwin's brain instructed his body to take a deep breath and then to prepare to watch carefully.

Nagi stood, sword at the ready. "Blossom Dance." Five strikes, each deeper than the next, each a step closer. And to Gwin's great satisfaction, Dog Davis went down on one knee and powered off. Maybe he had stopped out of respect for the Secretary, maybe he'd been made to stop, didn't matter. Stopping happened. The fight was over.

Except, of course, for the three missiles that had been launched before the Secretary had concluded the morning's fight. Gwin watched, helplessly, as they slammed into Case's skell, spreading with fire. Once again, Case was twisted by the force, pushed past the edge of the deck. But this time she didn't scramble back. This time, her skell flopped slowly backwards, out of sight. He heard a slam, felt the deck shake, then felt it repeated. He raced to see over the edge. There was a crunching sound as the prototype bounced off the roadway overhang below, more agonizing scrapes as it continued to slide, and then it plunged into the blast gel below with a sticky "blurp". He watched as it started sinking fast.

* * *

 **A/n: I replayed Nagi's second affinity quest 8 times. Play, crash quit, replay it. At this point, I will use a meme. "Asdfadlkfjaldjaaweqwerq!" I may hate writing fight scenes, but I always knew how this would end. My avatar, Roo, is currently abusing a Blossom Dance build post game. On-foot rules, especially because I keep killing his skell (sorry, sorry, don't tell Alexa).**

 **Meanwhile, I want the Shovel Knight video almost as much as I want the "Shield of the Ma-non" video (shameless plug is shameless).**

 **Suggestions for casual clothes for Nagi still open. Pop me a comment and it could happen, you have 2 chapters left, tick tick.**

 **Next: Deep dive. Or would you rather take the safe road?**

 **AND I GET TO TOUCH THE SWITCH  
TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY TODAY!  
I promise not to lick the shared joycons  
Next week, my own Switch?  
I probably will.**


	11. We Can Jump or Take the Safe Route

**We can jump or take the safe route**

 **a/n: Gwin and Nagi jump off the Administrative Area balcony. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!**

 **Swears (not much this chapter, but they tend to sneak in), pain, Gwin abuse.**

 **All the good and wonderful stuff belongs to Monolith Soft. Case the Head Case is mine, but fairly quiet this chapter.**

 **And if this doesn't prove that I love XCX** **and you guys  
** **more than anything**  
 **Know that I have Breath of the Wild, on PAUSE, next to me!**

* * *

Gwin peered over the edge of the Administrative District lookout. Far below, he could make out the shape of the prototype skell, blurred by the blast gel that formed the moat beneath the city. A rusty red comet trail was marring the deeper blue, with the skell as the head and still sinking.

"Case! We gotta see if she's okay. Um, the elevator is …"

Behind him, a firm voice said, "Too slow. How are you for high dives?" Gwin watched as the speaker ran straight for the edge and dove off. Kentaro Nagi, Secretary of Defense and general bad ass. Gwin took a stutter step and followed on his idol's heels.

The air whistled past his ears, and he twisted miserably, hoping he'd made enough of a leap at the start to miss the roadway overhang. Well, he'd followed in Nagi's footsteps, and if that wasn't the best idea generally, he'd be surprised. The sucking splash of blast gel confirmed his faith, even as cold shot straight into his bones (or whatever served as bones).

The gel was morning chilled, sticky, and gritty from dust and pollen. It was no longer the stinking biohazard that it had been early in their arrival, before the Zaruboggan had joined the city and started their eager and relentless quest for voltant. Still, even on a sunny day, Gwin had always found swimming in gel to be disgusting. The way it both clung and slithered around his body reminded him too much of being digested, not that he'd had that experience on Mira. Yet. Tatsu had been very vocal and descriptive about his personal experiences, and of all the blather that little vegetable spewed, that had struck home for Gwin. So, no, not something he was enjoying.

But he wasn't paddling around, chasing after Cross for some reason, or trying to recover from a drunken walk home. The height of the jump had pushed him deep, and he forced himself to keep swimming downward, towards Case's skell. The urge to breathe shouldn't have bothered him. Mims don't need air quite the same as humans, remember that. But still, something like lungs was screaming in revolt. Opening his eyes was agony, and not all that helpful. The further he descended, the murkier it grew, until he could barely make out the shadow of the skell. Some other sense was helping him, pressure or movement or just the inevitable tendency he had to crowd up on people.

His fingers smashed painfully against metal. He shifted his hands, following curves and flanges. Found it! Now to find the release for the pilot's hatch. A tricky problem, being essentially blind and not knowing if he was looking for a lever or button or external panel anyway. Even trickier, it might have been destroyed in the battle. Even more tricky after that, it might not have ever existed.

No. Case had gotten in, and she'd started from the outside with no help. So he should be able to do something. By feel, he'd found the center of the torso. Over to his left, he sensed flailing. Must be the Secretary, trying to get at Case through the gaping hole left after the right arm had been detached. Brilliant. Why hadn't he thought of that? Gwin groped his way across the chest of the skell, trying to pull himself closer through the sticky gel. Gotta get there, gotta get her out, gotta get Case, come on, move!

His hands suddenly were pinned to the skell. A sullen reddish glow seemed to be lighting the gel slightly. It was dim enough that he wasn't sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him. It wasn't bright enough to reveal anything except the outline of his fingers. Then Gwin felt a stinging snap, not quite static, not quite heat, moving up his hands, past his wrists. He yowled briefly, only to choke on a mouthful of gel.

:pilot:released:good:riddance:

Was that a voice? Impossible. Gwin had reached complete confusion tinged with panic. He had his jaw clamped, strangling on gel. His eyes were wide open and stinging, but all he saw was grey bordering on black. His fingers burned. He must have lost the skell, because his hands were no longer touching metal. They weren't empty though. He realized he could feel cloth, and armor, and the curve of a shoulder blade. He grabbed desperately. A pull brought something that might be the weight of a mim closer to him.

He got another mouthful of gel, impulsively shouting that he'd gotten Case. Probably hadn't made a sound, but somehow there was another set of hands, pulling at the limp form. She wasn't coming cleanly from the skell, though. They tugged her upwards, and her head tugged back, snapping her body from his hands. Gwin kicked furiously closer to her. His fingers found hair, made gross and slimy from the gel, and at the base of her neck, he felt a tether. He didn't want to consider options, instead yanking it roughly free from her body. That was enough. She was pulled upward by Nagi, and Gwin followed.

They broke the surface as a trio, two flailing and sputtering, one still and dead weight. Not the best phrasing, maybe. Gwin certainly hoped it wasn't. "Keep her head above the surface," ordered Nagi, the sound muffled by the gel thick in Gwin's ears. The Interceptor shook his head madly, blinking to get some of the heavy liquid from his eyes. He awkwardly cradled Case's head so that it stayed above the level of the gel. Nagi was pushing the both of them, kicking like a motor, towards a small row of solar panels that dotted the surface. Gwin swam forward, and tugged Case up onto the small platform.

Gwin crouched beside Case and shook her, but got no response. Her eyes were shut and he couldn't tell if she was breathing or not. He noticed black cables, thicker than his thumb, were attached all over her body. Some looked like they had released cleanly from the skell; others, dripping a honey-colored oily substance, looked as if they'd been snapped. There were slashes all over her legs and torso too, probably where cables had been torn out. She was a mess of bright blue mim fluid, grey blue gel, and the yellow oil, as well as other weird smears. Her skin was so pale, he could almost see the green of her eyes through her eyelids. "Come on, Case, you there?" Gwin started to tug at some of the leads still attached to her. The first one came out with a gush of yellow and blue, its wicked jagged arrowhead glittering as silver as the prototype.

"Don't touch the cables. Or their fluid. Poison, I'd say."

"What? What makes you say that?"

Nagi was standing, looking down at Gwin and Case. "Something is certainly making her shake." Gwin hadn't noticed that Case's body had shifted from motionless to trembling. The shaking was slight but relentless.

"Is she okay?" Gwin looked up at Nagi, hoping the older man had some good news.

"No. But she isn't dead. We can't do much until …" began Nagi. "Ah, I see the Mediators have arrived." Even before he finished his statement, a Police skell swooped down. Two BLADEs jumped out as the skell hovered delicately at the base of the platform. Gwin recognized the pilot, a bulky Mediator named Lara (Nara, if he had to guess). Lara gave him a multi-fingered twiddling wave. Gwin shook his head again, trying to clear his vision a bit more. The new arrivals, medics probably, were hauling Case rapidly into the skell, which began to lift off the second the back carrier snapped shut.

Gwin watched the skell shoot off helplessly. "Shouldn't they have checked her before moving her?"

"Getting her to the Mim Center will do her the most good. It will do us considerable good as well. Shall we?" But Nagi wasn't actually waiting for a response. He had dove into the gel and was making a good imitation of a torpedo, directly at the nearest staircase. Gwin gave one last shake of his head before reluctantly reentering the moat. No point waiting for someone to pick him up.

A few minutes later Gwin emerged from one more unexpected morning swim. The Secretary was waiting for him, with an expression that would have daunted Gwin under the ideal circumstances. Dripping with gel, with ears both ringing from explosions and muffled from the dive, unable to stop his eyes from blinking, Gwin was definitely not at his best. Still, he did what he could to stand at attention.

"You have 450 steps to explain before we reach the Residential Section. Start."

* * *

 **a/n: Answer: Jump. 475 hours later, still made the right decision there. And, yes, I counted the steps.**

 **Last chance for suggestions for Nagi's casual wear! And treasure bunny is female specific, so not that. Why, Monolith Soft, why? Because I would have put every stinking male in that outfit. Every. One.**

 **Next up: Safe and dry and salty as all get out. And we'll be done (but only until I finish the Gwin/Tatsu silliness).**


	12. Salt in the Wounds

**Salt in the Wounds (the end)**

 **a/n: Gwin checks on an injured teammate. His bedside manner needs work.**

 **All the good stuff belongs to Monolith Soft, but Case the Head Case is mine.**

 **XCX PORTANDA EST!**

* * *

Three minutes later, Gwin had done his best to keep up with Nagi on their return from the gel to the main area of New Los Angeles. 450 steps in under 4 minutes, that had to be some kind of record. All the while recounting how'd they'd found the prototype and tricked the Milsaadi, how Case had gone ahead, back to NLA, and how the rest of the team had followed as soon as they'd gotten Gwin clear of the Marnuck. He tried to make it sound a little more pre-planned, but he suspected he hadn't fooled the Secretary. As they cleared the last stairs, Gwin found himself standing at the base of the water treatment plant. He stood blinking, not so much from the sudden sunlight but from the overwhelming normality.

The sunlight disappeared. Two skells landed with a crunching thud next to them. Nagi walked calmly towards a Police skell, stepped casually onto the foot of it, and was lifted off without a wave to Gwin. The other skell Gwin recognized with delight. Navy blue and slim, it had to be Irina's Ares.

The pilot's hatch popped open, and Irina shouted down to him. "Get in the jump seat, because I won't have you dripping gel on me."

"I thought your skell was scrapped."

"Please. The day I lose to scum like them is the day I become a Reclaimer. Get in." She snapped the hatch shut.

Gwin was still struggling with the restraints as he felt the skell lift off. He willed his hands to stop trembling, but with mixed success. Irina's staticky voice startled him. "You will be cleaning all this mess up, you realize that."

"Yes, Lieutenant."

"And I don't just mean the goo back there. You're in charge of all paperwork and explanations."

"Aw, Lieutenant," he whined.

He heard Irina muttering to herself. "God, I did not realize what a crazy cake that girl was. Never again." The link went silent.

For all the hurry to reach the Mimeosome Center, they were left to wait in an anonymous hallway for the better part of an hour. Irina fumed and checked her comm device, while Gwin dripped gel and tried not to shiver. When a technician waved him into an examination room, Gwin went gratefully. He tried to remain grateful through the long and far from gentle clean-up that followed. Still shivering, wearing anonymous grunt BLADE shirt and pants, he returned to hall to find Irina talking with Nagi.

Clearly, the Mimesome Center had tried to provide something better for the Secretary of Defense. Gwin wasn't quite sure what had made them think that a striped sweater and black jeans was the right choice. Panic, probably. Still, Nagi stood there, listening gravely to Irina's statements, as if this were perfectly normal. The two of them looked at Gwin, and he shivered again. He could already feel the enormity of the approaching debriefing.

A bustle in the hallway distracted him. A cloud of six mimesome repair staff were pushing a stretcher towards an elevator. He caught some of their chatter. "Most of the poison was cleared." "Shock." "Maybe a few days." "Transfer her to rest." "Second round to clear." "May take more." Under a coarsely woven blanket, he recognized Case's still form.

"Just a minute," he said to his superiors. It wasn't a delaying tactic, honest. He just wanted to check on Case. He pushed through the technicians, not even listening to their complaints. "Lemme talk to her a second." He looked down at the woman, eyes closed, body still shaking slightly, breath a whisper.

"There's no point. She won't hear you," one of them scolded him.

Gwin waved him away. "Just for a second." And as if to prove the technician wrong out of spite, Case opened her leaf-green eyes. Blank and empty, but open wide.

He leaned down towards her, so that his face would be in range. "Hey, Case, good thing you pulled your invite. It would have been kind of cold the next three days."

No response. Her eyes didn't move from the ceiling.

Gwin grinned down at her blank face, trying to coax a smile out of her. "And it would have been really embarrassing, explaining to the mim technicians why I was sitting next to your recovery pod, buck-naked. Just like you wanted, right? Remember?"

Her eyes twitched over towards him, but they held no recognition. The technician had been right; Gwin was sure she hadn't heard a word. He sighed. Then her eyes darkened and a brilliant smile lit her face for a moment. But only for a moment. Her face contorted, her eyes went even wider and blanker than usual, pure shining green with no pupil whatsoever. Her head arched back and her body rattled like dried grass. The mimesome tech pushed him to the side. "Get out of the way." The group coalesced around her, stuttering out the words "caustic" and "system" and "respiratory failure." Gwin watched with concern as they quickly swerved, pushing the stretcher into a nearby room. He could still hear Case gasping and choking until the door slid closed.

Irina was beside him. "What the hell did you say to her?"

"I was trying to make a dumb joke. I thought she'd like it. I thought she'd laugh, or at least swear at me or something."

"That one has a mouth on her like a sewer."

"Speaking of which, my mouth tastes like a sewer. I'd kill for a toothbrush."

"Nope, not until the debriefing is done. I told you."

"Aw, Irina, you're the senior team leader," he started to protest.

"No. This was your lunacy, yours and Case's. You get to fill out all the forms."

* * *

 **A/n: The End. XCX PORTANDA EST!**

 **May I mention how hot Nagi looks when dressed in casual clothes? Not as hot as his uniform, but super fly and fine. Mercy, he looks good in flipflops. It's not accurate for him to be getting the report directly, I know. That's a job for some underling. But, please, after that many chapters of fight scenes, in skells no less, I deserve a cookie. Drool.**

 **There is another arc about Case, with heavy Gwin abuse, but first I have to finish fluff with Tatsu and Gwin abuse. (Notice a thread in my pieces.) Project Tatsu takes place before Project Case 2.0, and there are some things in Case 2.0 that you just can't come back from. So it may be a while before I post on Fridays. I lost my mind on miiverse (neonully) and did pictures for Project Tatsu, but the story will be slightly different.**

 **And I've started playing with a fourth arc and fifth arc, which isn't fair because I haven't finished the third one. The middle third is notes only (skell battles, shoot me now) but I did finish its conclusion of DRAMAAAAAA!**


End file.
